Henry Sugimoto: Painting An American Experience is the companion volume to a major exhibit of a remarkable Japanese-American artist. Henry Sugimoto (1900-1999) had an art career that spanned the 20th century and whose work reveals a talented, gifted, complex, and engaging painter. From his early work (influenced by European impressionism and then the post-impressionists) to his painted documentation to the Japanese-American experiences of World War II era Arkansas-based internment camps, to his later efforts in New York City, this superbly presented, full-color survey of his life and work is a fitting testament to a great artist.

Whether your interest is in art or in history, you definitely will find pleasure here! Regardless of where your interest may lay, this book is a highly accessible one. Sugimoto's art is accessible to non-artistics (if there's such a word ;-) and Kristine Kim's narrative is accessible to non-academics. As an American of Japanese ancestry, I find that our history is depicted in a way that satisfies both the eye and the intellect.

An immigrant from Japan and an impressionist artist whose work later reflected his exposure to the Mexican muralists, Sugimoto's work documented the Japanese-American experience. Drawing on his unpublished autobiography, as well as other source documents, Kristine Kim appropriately delivers Sugimoto's art within the historical context that so strongly influenced his style and subject matter. Each chapter in Sugimoto's life is followed by the artwork created in that period. The most significant period being World War II.

WWII was a dark time for Japanese-Americans (and for US citizens, as a whole). Sugimoto was incarcerated: first at the Fresno Assembly Center and later at concentration camps in Arkansas. While in the camps, where cameras were forbidden, Sugimoto used his brushes and canvas to document the existence of persons imprisoned solely for their ethnicity. His work is filled with the emotions of that time - hope for the future, sorrow at injustice, longing for freedom, pride in country, sadness at the thought of sons fighting far away. On the surface, many of the paintings seem to show "normal" everyday life but subtle signs (pink ration book, guard towers, mess hall) hint at the fact that the people in the paintings are incarcerated.

Having seen several times the Sugimoto exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum, I have seen many of the paintings included in this book. The panels of those works represent them well. Be sure to check out his painting titled "When Can We Go Home?" It is remarkable in that it's startling, emotional and bold and subtle at once. It struck my heart in a way that's difficult to put into words.

Never one to cease growing in his art, in the 1960's Sugimoto experimented with woodblock prints. They are amazing! Beautiful, detailed, with depth of feelings.

Henry Sugimoto was a talented artist whose work reflects not only his experiences but his wondrous humanity and compassion. He is not well known. Hopefully the current exhibit and this book will rectify that!